The grandmother of a public school fourth grader in Carroll County, Md., wrote a letter to the editors of the Baltimore Sun, which the paper published on Jan 16 (edition of Jan 17). In the letter, the grandmother quoted from one of her granddaughter’s homework assignments:
Tyler made 36 total snowflakes which is a multiple of how triangular snowflakes he made. How many triangular snowflakes could he have made?
No picture or other illustration was referenced in the grandmother’s published letter, so we are left with just these two sentences, one of which must be missing a word or something. The grandmother used the assignment to call the curriculum inspired by the Common Core State Standards a “ridiculously harmful program.”
The complete disregard for the construction of an English sentence in the assignment shows evidence of being rushed without an opportunity for even a quick re-reading, let alone proofreading. Our thanks go to Gail Householder, the letter writer from Marriottsville, for bringing this to the attention of the public (and to ours).
Before addressing the math, let’s fix the grammar. The writer may have intended in the first sentence to say “36 total snowflakes [,] which is a multiple of how [many] triangular snowflakes he made.” In addition to the grammar and missing word, we note the possibly superfluous use of “triangular.” What does it matter what shape the snowflakes were in? This isn’t kindergarten, where kids like to learn about shapes.
Now for the question itself: “How many triangular [sic] snowflakes could [sic] he have made?”
I have no idea. He has 36 total snowflakes, and I really don’t know how many triangular ones he “could” have made. Maybe 10 are hexagonal and 26 are triangular, who knows? As far as I’m concerned, he “can” make as many as he wants in all different shapes, no matter how many he currently has.
The problem here is a rookie mistake by a writer, teacher, district math specialist, or whoever wrote this. The context gets in the way of the math.
What I believe the writer is trying to capture here is the idea of multiples, which is a perfectly good concept to teach fourth graders. To address that learning standard, CCSSM.4.OA.A.1, let’s rewrite the problem. (The standard says students will be able to “Interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, e.g., interpret 35 = 5 × 7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5. Represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as multiplication equations.”):
Tyler has 36 total snowflakes. It takes 3 snowflakes to make a “triangular complex snowflake.” How many triangular complex snowflakes can he make?
Better? I hope so, because it’s now clear what the task is, what the problem is that needs to be solved. Applying math concepts in the learning standard to solve a problem is what the Common Core is designed to promote, and I think the learning standard itself promotes the kind of problem solving we want kids to learn today just fine.
We could even add a second step to the task and test students’ understanding of the last part of 4.OA.A.1 by having the write the multiplication equation 36 = 3 × ?. But that would require more time and testing on the part of question writers, which our schools have, for the most part, failed to provide for people who are charged with implementing the Common Core in our classrooms.
Opposition grows to the Common Core
The problem here appears to be one of implementation, not with the Common Core standard the question writer was attempting to address.
However, certain standards in the Common Core definitely need revision; this just isn’t one of them, in my opinion. But opposition to the Common Core standards are growing from every direction, both politically and in the education community. Several Republican gubernatorial candidates in Maryland just a few days ago said in a televised debate that they want changes to the Common Core, the Washington Post reported.
“Politicians should not be dictating what goes on in a classroom,” David R Craig, now the county executive in Harford County, was quoted as saying. “We should back off Common Core 100 percent.”
Charles County businessman Charles Lollar said a moratorium on the Common Care would be good, while retired Baltimore firefighter Brian Vaeth, a retired Baltimore County firefighter said the standards deserve “another look.” The fourth candidate appearing on WBFF (Fox affiliate) Thursday, Delegate Ronald A George of Anne Arundel County, said he’s pushing legislation that would allow local school boards to decide for themselves whether to adopt the Common Core standards, rather than following the state’s lead.
Community members in Baltimore County have created a forum for teachers to express their concerns and to bridge communication with the community. It’s available online, here, and is known as the Baltimore County Coalition For Education Oversight.
I imagine a homework assignment like the one Ms Householder wrote about would find a warm reception in a forum like BCCEO. One of the forum’s missions is to “protect our children from a barrage of education reforms that are not in their best interest and have no evidence of success.”
As printed in the Baltimore Sun, there’s no way the assignment given to Ms Householder’s granddaughter could be, for students, “in their best interest.”